In October 1998, Aaron Kreifels, a young man living in Laramie, Wyoming, discovered the limp body of Matthew Shepard tied to a fence . From a distance, Kreifels mistook Shepard's slender figure for a "scarecrow" and was horrified to find the opposite (Kaufman). Matthew Shepard, a twenty-one-year-old University of Wyoming student, was beaten beyond recognition and, while still technically alive, was rushed to to emergency care. He died after falling into a coma six days later (Kaufman). Shepard was a gay man and his murder was labeled a hate crime, a murder that in the late '90s dominated the airwaves: "Matthew Shepard" was the name on the tip of everyone's tongue , but what made his murder special? JoAnn Wypilewski points out in her essay "A Boy's Life" that "gay men are being horribly killed all over this country, more than thirty just since Shepard - one in Richmond, Virginia, was beheaded" ( 609). With so many men being killed in similar contexts, why do we particularly care about Matthew Shepard – or why not? A simple search of the name "Matthew Shepard" in the Google database yields thousands of results in the form of articles, news periodicals and videos. The media coverage of the Matthew Shepard affair is overwhelming. Information overload can leave us feeling helpless. As twenty-teen students fifteen years removed from the incident, how do we care about Matthew Shepard? There is no denying that the murder of Matthew Shepard was brutal and unnecessary. Her murderer, Aaron McKinney, committed a heinous act and was punished to the fullest extent of the law. However, should we just eliminate the murderers by demonizing them as monsters while Shepard remains as an angel...... middle of paper ...... the community is still prevalent today, and the impact of Shepard's death, will allow 21st century students to care about Matthew Shepard. Shepard has become a symbol of sexual equality and tolerance. Whether or not his tragic death was motivated by homophobic hatred no longer matters. Works Cited Gumbel, Andrew. "The murder of Matthew Shepard: 'In the end, it was drugs and money'." The Guardian. N,p., October 14, 2013. Web. April 10, 2014. Kaufman, Moises, dir. "The Laramie Project". 2002. http://www.grpl.org/. DVD-ROM. April 2014. “New details emerge in Matthew Shepard murder. » ABC News. Np, January 6, 2006. Web. April 10, 2014. Olsen, Eric. "Why does sensationalism sell?". Live Science, October 25, 2012. Web. April 10, 2014.Wypijewski, JoAnn. "A Boy's Life". The composition of daily life. Ed. Mauk and Metz. 4th ed. Boston: Wadsworth. 2013. Print.